“Hey, look who’s here.” Patrick came bounding into the dining room and close behind him was a woman, tall and dark-haired and sophisticated. “And just in time for dinner, too.”
Sloane felt a shock run through him. Zena. What was she doing here?
He kept his face passive as he stared at her even though he felt like he’d just been kicked in the gut. There, not six feet away, stood the first woman he’d ever made love to.
“Zena,” he said, as he rose to his feet. “This is a surprise. What brings you back to Montreal?" He kept his tone deliberately relaxed but inside he was anything but. Over a decade had passed since his last contact with Zena but he could have played back that final conversation word for word. “Get out of my life,” he’d told her. “You disgust me.”
But now she was back.
“Sloane, it’s been too long,” she gushed, ignoring his outstretched hand and stepping forward to embrace him. Then she leaned back to gaze up at him. “And you don’t look a day older than the last time I saw you. How do you men do it?” She gave a brassy laugh then stepped away and turned to Patrick and Jacqueline.
“For ‘Taboo’ we’re shooting a scene in Montreal. Can you imagine how thrilled I was when I heard we’d be in my hometown?” Her eyes flashed as she gave them a movie star-white smile. “So I decided to pay a surprise visit to my old school friends.”
“It’s a surprise, all right.” Jacqueline’s face said she didn’t quite know what to make of the sudden visit but then she masked it with a smile as she got up. “But it’s good to see you, Zena.” She waved her hand at an empty place at the table. “Have a seat. I’ll set a place for you.”
“No, no.” The unexpected guest lifted her perfectly manicured hands and shook her head. “I have to get back to the set by five. My limo’s waiting outside.” Then she gave a trilling laugh. “But I’ve been away so long, I couldn’t be back in Montreal and not drop in on you guys. We were all best friends, remember? We were a team.”
“Yeah,” Patrick said, his tone nostalgic. “Those were the days.”
“Well, guys, it was good to lay eyes on you again but I’ve got to run. Doctor’s visit, you know.” Her eyes swept the table, over the children who she didn’t acknowledge then to Melanie, where her gaze paused. And then she glanced away, a tight smile on her lips. “Nice seeing you again, guys,” she said as she turned. “Sloane, why don’t you walk me to the door?”
Now what was Zena up to? She hadn’t acknowledged Melanie’s presence even though he was sure she knew who she was. They’d parted on less than amicable terms and now she wanted him to escort her out? She was definitely up to something.
He did walk her to the door, where she turned and gave him a sly smile. “It’s not over till it’s over,” she whispered, and then she was sashaying down the driveway to her waiting car.
Sloane frowned. He didn’t know what to make of that, but coming from Zena it was definitely a threat.
He closed the door and returned to the dining room where the others had already turned their attention back to their meal. All except Melanie. She was staring at him, her eyes huge in her face, her fingers clutching the napkin in her hand.
He could see the worry in her eyes and he knew that as soon as they got home that night he’d have some explaining to do.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Melanie was seething. How dare they? If Sloane had wanted to flirt with his ex he didn’t have to do it right in front of her face. The cad. And she knew exactly who the woman was. It was an older face, and a lot harder, but it was the same face she’d seen in the high school cafeteria when she’d been fourteen. It was the girl Sloane had been with that day she saw him from across the gym-sized room.
Obviously they’d been involved, and even more obvious, there was still something going on between them…even though he was now married to someone else.
With a huff, Melanie folded her arms across her chest and stared straight ahead, refusing to respond to Sloane’s questions. She was not going to speak to him and he could talk till he was blue, she would not give him the satisfaction of a response.
For the entire journey back to the house Melanie remained silent and when he pulled the car to a halt in front of the steps she flung the door open and hopped out before he could come around to help her. She didn’t want his conversation and she definitely didn’t want his help.
“Melanie.” He barked out her name as she flew up the steps and headed for the front door. “Wait.”
She whirled around to face him. “Why should I? So you can insult me some more? Throw your lover in my face?”
“You got it all wrong.” He was climbing the steps and coming toward her, the shadows of night hiding the expression on his face, but Melanie could guess he was looking smug.
“I don’t want to hear it,” she grated but by this time he was standing right in front of her and he was looking anything but smug. On his face was a scowl.
“Well, you’re going to hear it, whether you like it or not.” He reached behind her and unlocked the door then took her elbow in a grip from which she could not wrest her arm even if she tried. “You’re going to sit and you’re going to listen to what I have to say.”
Realizing resistance was futile, Melanie let him lead her across the foyer and toward the den where he deposited her on the sofa and sat down beside her.
“Listen to me, Melanie,” he said, his face stern. “I know what you’re thinking but you’re wrong. There’s absolutely nothing going on between Zena and me.”
She glared back at him, not believing a word. “No? So why was she giving you all kinds of googly eyes? And then you went to the door with her for some sort of secret conference.” She clenched her fists. “I heard you guys laughing out there. You didn’t even care that I could hear you.”
“That was Zena you heard, not me.”
She shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. You were there with her so you’re guilty by association. And why did you ask me to marry you, anyway, if you’re still in love with…Zena?” As she said the woman’s name her voice dripped with venom. She was working herself up into a state, she knew, but she didn’t care. The situation called for it.